RNK
2nd May 2008, 16:22
Yesterday's May Day Rally in Montreal started off like most peaceful demonstrations I've been to over the years. The event was called by an alliance of leftist organizations of varied political backgrounds; Anarkhia, Apatrides Anonymous, AIQL, Carrefour Quebec-Cuba, Philippines Center, Immigrant Worker's Center, BAILS Commity, Canadian Red Cross Commity, Revolutionary Communist Party, No One Is Illegal, PINAY, NEFAC, Iranian Socialist Union, and various other groups and individuals, along with their families, children as young as 2 and adults as old as 80.
There was something of an aura of excitement at this particular demonstration, atleast for this author, because of the absence of the "Big Central Unions", who will often not hold their May Day rallies on the 1st but on the closest weekend date, in this case May 3rd, and whom many consider are little more than beauraucratic hollow shells which have no radical or progressive character. In 2006 the same had occured, prompting the RCP to call for a demonstration with its own supporters and friends, which gathered approximately 250-300 people. This time however a greater effort was made to create an umbrella of organizations to march on May 1st, an effort which drew in about 500 people from my estimation, maybe slightly less.
The event got underway around 5:45, as all of the participants started gathering at Place Valois on Ontario street in Montreal's east end. It started off with several speaches and addresses to the crowd, albeit very silently -- the RCP really needs to invest in a better sound system, given the steadily increasing numbers attending events. At about 6:30 the march started, heading west along Ontario street.
There were signs something fishy was going on. On the way to the rally point, I noticed along a side-street atleast a dozen small police vans parked and idling. They didn't look like the regular mini-buses I'm used to seeing riot cops leap out of, so I concluded they might be barrier vehicles used to block access to side-streets during the march. I shrugged it off.
Later on, two Trots from the IMT frantically came up to me (Lollipop and Gunther Glick) rambling something about the cops saying they were going to beat everyone up. I shrugged that off too, knowing that cops usually say that, or thinking they were perhaps exhaggerating a bit. It didn't seem at all likely that anything would happen. It was a peaceful rally, a family-friendly one, not like the violent anti-police brutality riots that occured in mid-March, which are always about direct confrontation.
Throughout the first 30 minutes of the march along Ontario Street, nothing seemed amiss. Our little rally had gathered a lot of interest from the local inhabitants, who hanged out of windows, stood on their front porches, and peered through storefronts. Not so much as a single broken pane of glass or scratched car was left in our wake (though maybe the latter isn't true, it's not like I inspected every car we passed).
After about 30 minutes, though, I began hearing a faint but steady beat from behind us. Turning around, I saw a line of riot cops in full gear steadily heading our way, beating their batons against their shields in their usual silly tactic for intimidation. They were slowly gaining on us; every few seconds they would suddenly burst into a jog, forcing those in the back to run up ahead, which was problematic for the elderly and stroller-pushing members of the rally.
We barely had time to process what was going on when the attack began. No sooner had we become aware of the riot police's presence when they launched an all-out attack, batons raised, running at our rear, which, of course, prompted us to start running, but, for reasons unknown, we stopped. Infront of the rally, out of view, another police riot line had manifested itself, blocking our way. The police from behind advanced, squeezing us in the middle. A few dozen people tried to run; they were shoved, dragged, kicked and hit for their troubles. Mothers with young children desperately scrambled away as several people were grabbed and dragged from the group, hit in a flurry of batons and sent on their way. A young girl with her dog was shoved to the ground and for two minutes was grabbed at, hit and kicked, while laying on her dog to try to protect him. A young mother with her 3 year old daughter in a stroller, both of their eyes red from pepperspray, frantically tried to get away.
Eventually the police at the rear of the rally moved back to the next street, which allowed the rally to move down a side street and away from the mess. Stragglers were harassed and hit with batons, and a young kid was taken to the ground and beaten while his friends shouted and tried to intervene. For about 60 seconds, half a dozen cops subdued the kid and repeatedly hit and kicked him, before they got up and walked off, leaving the kid's friends to help him up and flee.
By this point, I had become seperated from the main group. I was running from cop to cop after they withdrew, screaming at them, asking them if they were proud of pepperspraying children and beating the elderly. For my troubles I was hit from behind by three cops.
After that, I went to try and rejoin the main group of 'survivors' who had moved south down along a side street, followed by cops. I couldn't catch up to them. After they moved passed the next intersection the cops set up a barricade and stopped any stragglers from re-joining. A group of 20 of us or so stood around for several minutes, still dazed and shocked by what had happened. The streets were littered with signs, bags, and even articles of clothing hastily abandoned by demonstrators as they fled. Those of us sequestered on the other side, unable to really do anything, satisfied our immediate anger by throwing Nazi salutes and slogans at the cops as they walked by.
For about 10 minutes afterwards I stayed there with a few others, processing what had happened. In the few years I've been doing this I'd never seen such brutality and aggression from the police, especially at a peaceful demonstration. At Montebello and at the anti police brutality riots I hadn't seen this.
Eventually I headed back with another protester, and ran into a friend, an older gentlemen who was making his way back (at this point the demonstration had been thoroughly scattered throughout two dozen blocks in the surrounding area, with people filtering their way home from all directions). On the walk back, we ran into a family, two parents who looked to be about 50 or so with their 5 kids, ranging in ages from 5 to 15. They had all been peppersprayed, the youngest, a girl, telling us how it stung her eyes.
The whole thing was thoroughly traumatic, and, naturally, has gone essentially unreported in the major media, despite all of their cameras being there and capturing the events. The only report I could find as of this morning was a minor one which only briefly talks about the events and, of course, none of the particularls; apparently one of the police officers involved "could not say" whether pepperspray had been used; there was no mention of the assaults on the elderly or children, or of the beatings; only allegations from witnesses that the police may have been too "forceful".
There's nothing we can do. The media knows what happened. We know what happened. The police know what happened. For now, we can only lick our wounds, and look for vengeance.
There was something of an aura of excitement at this particular demonstration, atleast for this author, because of the absence of the "Big Central Unions", who will often not hold their May Day rallies on the 1st but on the closest weekend date, in this case May 3rd, and whom many consider are little more than beauraucratic hollow shells which have no radical or progressive character. In 2006 the same had occured, prompting the RCP to call for a demonstration with its own supporters and friends, which gathered approximately 250-300 people. This time however a greater effort was made to create an umbrella of organizations to march on May 1st, an effort which drew in about 500 people from my estimation, maybe slightly less.
The event got underway around 5:45, as all of the participants started gathering at Place Valois on Ontario street in Montreal's east end. It started off with several speaches and addresses to the crowd, albeit very silently -- the RCP really needs to invest in a better sound system, given the steadily increasing numbers attending events. At about 6:30 the march started, heading west along Ontario street.
There were signs something fishy was going on. On the way to the rally point, I noticed along a side-street atleast a dozen small police vans parked and idling. They didn't look like the regular mini-buses I'm used to seeing riot cops leap out of, so I concluded they might be barrier vehicles used to block access to side-streets during the march. I shrugged it off.
Later on, two Trots from the IMT frantically came up to me (Lollipop and Gunther Glick) rambling something about the cops saying they were going to beat everyone up. I shrugged that off too, knowing that cops usually say that, or thinking they were perhaps exhaggerating a bit. It didn't seem at all likely that anything would happen. It was a peaceful rally, a family-friendly one, not like the violent anti-police brutality riots that occured in mid-March, which are always about direct confrontation.
Throughout the first 30 minutes of the march along Ontario Street, nothing seemed amiss. Our little rally had gathered a lot of interest from the local inhabitants, who hanged out of windows, stood on their front porches, and peered through storefronts. Not so much as a single broken pane of glass or scratched car was left in our wake (though maybe the latter isn't true, it's not like I inspected every car we passed).
After about 30 minutes, though, I began hearing a faint but steady beat from behind us. Turning around, I saw a line of riot cops in full gear steadily heading our way, beating their batons against their shields in their usual silly tactic for intimidation. They were slowly gaining on us; every few seconds they would suddenly burst into a jog, forcing those in the back to run up ahead, which was problematic for the elderly and stroller-pushing members of the rally.
We barely had time to process what was going on when the attack began. No sooner had we become aware of the riot police's presence when they launched an all-out attack, batons raised, running at our rear, which, of course, prompted us to start running, but, for reasons unknown, we stopped. Infront of the rally, out of view, another police riot line had manifested itself, blocking our way. The police from behind advanced, squeezing us in the middle. A few dozen people tried to run; they were shoved, dragged, kicked and hit for their troubles. Mothers with young children desperately scrambled away as several people were grabbed and dragged from the group, hit in a flurry of batons and sent on their way. A young girl with her dog was shoved to the ground and for two minutes was grabbed at, hit and kicked, while laying on her dog to try to protect him. A young mother with her 3 year old daughter in a stroller, both of their eyes red from pepperspray, frantically tried to get away.
Eventually the police at the rear of the rally moved back to the next street, which allowed the rally to move down a side street and away from the mess. Stragglers were harassed and hit with batons, and a young kid was taken to the ground and beaten while his friends shouted and tried to intervene. For about 60 seconds, half a dozen cops subdued the kid and repeatedly hit and kicked him, before they got up and walked off, leaving the kid's friends to help him up and flee.
By this point, I had become seperated from the main group. I was running from cop to cop after they withdrew, screaming at them, asking them if they were proud of pepperspraying children and beating the elderly. For my troubles I was hit from behind by three cops.
After that, I went to try and rejoin the main group of 'survivors' who had moved south down along a side street, followed by cops. I couldn't catch up to them. After they moved passed the next intersection the cops set up a barricade and stopped any stragglers from re-joining. A group of 20 of us or so stood around for several minutes, still dazed and shocked by what had happened. The streets were littered with signs, bags, and even articles of clothing hastily abandoned by demonstrators as they fled. Those of us sequestered on the other side, unable to really do anything, satisfied our immediate anger by throwing Nazi salutes and slogans at the cops as they walked by.
For about 10 minutes afterwards I stayed there with a few others, processing what had happened. In the few years I've been doing this I'd never seen such brutality and aggression from the police, especially at a peaceful demonstration. At Montebello and at the anti police brutality riots I hadn't seen this.
Eventually I headed back with another protester, and ran into a friend, an older gentlemen who was making his way back (at this point the demonstration had been thoroughly scattered throughout two dozen blocks in the surrounding area, with people filtering their way home from all directions). On the walk back, we ran into a family, two parents who looked to be about 50 or so with their 5 kids, ranging in ages from 5 to 15. They had all been peppersprayed, the youngest, a girl, telling us how it stung her eyes.
The whole thing was thoroughly traumatic, and, naturally, has gone essentially unreported in the major media, despite all of their cameras being there and capturing the events. The only report I could find as of this morning was a minor one which only briefly talks about the events and, of course, none of the particularls; apparently one of the police officers involved "could not say" whether pepperspray had been used; there was no mention of the assaults on the elderly or children, or of the beatings; only allegations from witnesses that the police may have been too "forceful".
There's nothing we can do. The media knows what happened. We know what happened. The police know what happened. For now, we can only lick our wounds, and look for vengeance.